A controlled study of tinnitus masking

As part of a multi-centre study on tinnitus maskers, a controlled study with random allocation of patients to treatment groups was performed. The two therapists subdivided the patients according to whether or not they experienced hearing difficulties in addition to their tinnitus. Those with no hearing difficulties were randomly assigned to a control group with no instrumental treatment, or to treatment with one of two types of masker. Those with hearing difficulties were assigned to hearing aid, combination instrument, or masker treatment. No significant differences were found between treatment groups for those with no hearing difficulties. The differences between treatment groups for those fitted with maskers were small, but tended to indicate increased benefit derived from maskers. A number of interesting inter-therapist effects were found.